Akiko Fujita

Akiko Fujita is a multimedia journalist based in Los Angeles, and a regular contributor to PRI's The World.

Akiko Fujita is a multimedia journalist based in Los Angeles, and a regular contributor to The World.

Prior to her move back to the West Coast, Fujita spent more than 4 years in Tokyo, working as a correspondent for ABC News. Her work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Al Jazeera America, and CNN.
Puteri Hasannah Karunia is a popular fashion blogger, one of Indonesia's generation of young Muslim fashionistas known as "hijabers."

Hijab fashion is so popular in Indonesia non-Muslim designers are getting in on it

There's a thriving hijab fashion scene in Indonesia. But as more and more women there are wearing the hijab, some women who don't say they're feeling the pressure.

Hijab fashion is so popular in Indonesia non-Muslim designers are getting in on it
Grandfather

My grandfather's hidden past is wrapped up in his complex relationship to World War II

My grandfather's hidden past is wrapped up in his complex relationship to World War II
mariachi

LA's master mariachi tailor says sewing started out like a game for him

LA's master mariachi tailor says sewing started out like a game for him
Volunteers with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an Los Angeles-based non-profit, work the phones to get Asian-American voters to the polls in California. The phone bank is part of the "Your Vote Matters" campaign, an effort to get 30,000 infrequent vot

Getting Asian immigrants in the US to vote means breaking the language barrier

Getting Asian immigrants in the US to vote means breaking the language barrier
kids

Central American kids who make it to the US must cope with the violence they left behind

Central American kids who make it to the US must cope with the violence they left behind
Joe Corona, 23 years old and Mexican-American, is one of the star players for the Xolos, a professional soccer team based in Tijuana, Mexico. The team is actively recruiting top soccer players from the US, and now other Mexican soccer clubs are following

To get on the US national men's soccer team, you may need to cross the border into Mexico

Joe Corona, 23, plays for the US national men's soccer team. But the Californian native's road to representing his country has taken him across the border to Tijuana.

To get on the US national men's soccer team, you may need to cross the border into Mexico
Gil Devine in front of his home in Mexico, near the border.  Devine commutes to work six days a week in San Diego.

Some Americans are trading their US homes for an international commute from Mexico

For some, the California lifestyle is just too expensive. So why not trade your life in an American suburb for a bit of beach in Mexico ... and a commute?

Some Americans are trading their US homes for an international commute from Mexico
Bruce Kaji, shaking the hand of Japan's Crown Prince who had just landed in Los Angeles on a US Air Force airplane, in 1961. "In our family, we call this photo, The Prince and the Pauper.," says Bruce's son, Jon.

Toyota built Torrance into the second-largest home of Japanese Americans. Now, it's leaving

It may seem hard to believe, but Toyota almost didn't make it in the US. Its first car, the Toyopet Crown, was a flop. Toyota helped establish a huge Japanese-American community in Torrance, California that finds it hard to imagine the company is moving on.

Toyota built Torrance into the second-largest home of Japanese Americans. Now, it's leaving
Choi Jin-Hyuk is an actor on the popular Korean drama series 'Heirs' about wealthy Korean high school students who wrestle with social hierarchies and romance.

Your next big, addictive TV series could be from South Korea

Primetime dramas in South Korea — known as K-Dramas — are filled with implausible story lines, complete with romantic twists and turns. They’ve been popular in Asia for years, but thanks to online streaming websites, they’re now gaining a cult-like following in the US.

Your next big, addictive TV series could be from South Korea
Riffat Rahman, a health care advocate, conducts outreach about the Affordable Care Act in a Los Angeles neighborhood called Little Bangladesh.

One woman takes Obamacare's promise to Bangladeshi immigrants

Nina Sharmin was once a new immigrant from Bangladesh herself, struggling to pay for health insurance. Now, she hits the streets to help other immigrants fill out the 32-page application for Obamacare.

One woman takes Obamacare's promise to Bangladeshi immigrants

Japan's Gasoline Rationing Experience

Gasoline is being rationed in parts of New Jersey and New York as the area copes with the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy and this week's Nor'easter. Japan had to resort to similar measures in the aftermath of last year's earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's Gasoline Rationing Experience
The World

Another prime minister for Japan?

Akiko Fujita profiles Ichiro Ozawa who could become the third prime minister of Japan in the space of one year. Ozawa is a veteran powerbroker in Japan's Democratic Party. He's looking to unseat the current party leader, Japan's ruling prime minister.

Another prime minister for Japan?
The World

Japan's centenarian mystery

Japan officially has the world's largest number of people over the age of 100. But a recent series of grisly discoveries has put that exact number in doubt. Correspondent Akiko Fujita reports from Tokyo on what's happening to Japan's centenarians.

Japan's centenarian mystery
The World

Japan now number three

For decades, Japan ranked as the world's second largest economy. Now it's been overtaken by China. But as Akiko Fujita reports from Tokyo, many in Japanese aren't surprised.

Japan now number three
The World

Japan seeks help from former North Korean spy

Akiko Fujita reports that the Japanese government is hoping a former North Korean spy will help solve a mystery of what happened to several Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea during the Cold War.

Japan seeks help from former North Korean spy